April Fool

SST: Tooth Play

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

I have spent the last six years or so living with a gigantic cavity in the very back of my mouth. Initially it was pretty painful and sensitive, but I had been living with it for so long that I just got used to it. Last month I went to the dentist for the first time in years and had a full set of x-rays and a really deep cleaning, but I didn't get the cavity filled because my insurance wouldn't pay for any of it. But Jody, my dental student friend, tipped me off about a free clinic where I could get my cavities (I also had a second, smaller one) filled for free. So my super-generous roommate Micah, who is in his last semester of dental school, agreed to work on me for free at the clinic. Although I had warned him that the cavity was pretty massive, I don't think he realized quite what he was getting himself into when he volunteered to work on me. All in all it took about three hours to get the job done, and I felt bad for taking up so much of his free time on a Saturday morning. Thanks, Micah!

If only I paid more attention to the instructional melodramas of Prairie Dawn on Sesame Street, the cavity might never have developed in the first place:



I won't have Micah around to fix my teeth for much longer, so I'll just have to use the thought of Herry Monster terrorizing my teeth to scare me into having better oral hygiene.

What Dreams May Come

It's no longer good enough to have just one measly blog. A lot of my friends have set up second blogs (like her and him, or in her case, a third blog), and I have been feeling a bit left behind. A second blog sounded like a fun side project, like when George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne, and Tom Petty all got together in the late 80's to form a goofy side band, The Traveling Wilburys. The material could be more specialized and adventurous.

I spent many weeks contemplating around what theme I could build a second blog, and finally in a conversation with Amy Jeppsen I stumbled upon the idea of creating a blog about my dreams. That night I had a dream that I started a dream blog, and it was called What Dreams May Come (in the dream I kept insisting that it was a Shakespeare reference and not an homage to Robin Williams).

My dreams are one of my favorite things to talk about, but oftentimes I end up forgetting them because I don't tell them to anyone or record them. So earlier this month I blogged about a dream I had and it was so much fun to write that I decided that I would launch the dream blog as soon as Albert Herring ended and I had a little more free time. That is now, so here it is:

What Dreams May Come
(www.walrusdreamblog.blogspot.com)

To whet your appetite, here is a preview of the first post:


I hope you'll enjoy reading about the strange and whimsical things that I dream. But please don't psychoanalyze me too much.

P.S. - The morning after I had the dream in which I started a dream blog, I told my roommate Micah about it and he told me I should name the blog "The Dream-Catcher," since the blog serves as a means to catch my dreams. I thought that was clever, but I couldn't disobey the dream that told me to name it otherwise. I did, however, make a little dream-catcher logo to put on the side in honor of his suggestion.

SST: How Crayons are Made

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

One month ago I posted a clip of Here is Your Life, calling it Sesame Street's version of How It's Made. However, Amy Jeppsen later reminded me about another series of clips on Sesame Street that show how things are manufactured in a much more informative and accurate way (no offense, Guy Smiley). The series included things such as saxophones, honey, and cheese, but the best of the series is easily the video abou how crayons are made:

Amy said that when she was a little girl, she used to hold the crayon up to her eye like the girl in the video, trying to see the liquid wax swirling around inside.

As a bonus, I found this video of some guy playing the music from the clip on the piano, complete with pop-up comments! What do you think - is he really cool or is he a mega-dork? Discuss.

How I Gave My Student a Panic Attack

I have a voice student who was in a very serious car accident a few years ago, resulting in a brain injury that has affected her sense of direction. She's an incredibly smart girl, but the first few weeks of the semester were tricky for her since the room where we have our lessons is located in a maze of corridors with hundreds of identical doors. She used to call me from the waiting room and I would go out and fetch her, but after a few weeks she got the hang of the hallways and she is able to follow the numbers until she arrives safely at room 1180.

On Wednesday, however, I sat in the room waiting for her to arrive but she seemed to be running really late. I kept peeking out of the little window in the door to see if she was in the hallway, but I couldn't see her, so I just sat at the piano playing through some music. Finally after nearly ten minutes I got a phone call from her, but the reception was really bad and she sounded really panicked, so I ran down the hallway to the waiting room. I still didn't see her there, but at least I could hear her on the phone now. "Wait, do you have a mustache?"

I then turned around and saw her seated in the corner of the waiting area. As soon as I came over she started breathlessly apologizing for the confusion, gasping for air between each sentence. "I'm sooo sorry!!! ... I was waiting here...and then I went down the hallway to 1180...and I looked in the window...and I saw a stranger from behind.....and he had a mustache...and then I got all disoriented and everything felt all wrong...and then I tried to find my way back here but I started doubting myself...and then I had a panic attack and couldn't find my way back here...and I'm so sorry!..." At this point she almost couldn't breath so I had her sit down, take some deep breaths, and have a couple sips of water. When she finally calmed down, and as we set off together for the practice room she told me, "You can't just suddenly grow a mustache when you've got a student with a brain injury!"

Before that experience, I thought the mustache was just dorky and a little bit creepy, but now I realize that this mustache is actually very dangerous and has the potential to unleash much pain and psychological anguish on the world, like Pandora's Box or The One Ring. After Albert Herring closes on Sunday afternoon, it must be destroyed (possibly in the fires of Mordor, although that sounds like a lot of work) before it has a chance to harm anyone else.

Facial Hair Throwdown

There's something about the University of Michigan's March opera and mustaches. Some of you might remember that for last year's opera they made me grow a mustache. Well, one year later I'm in the same boat for Albert Herring. As I have always done in the past when I've had to have a mustache for a show, I've grown a full beard and then shaved it down for the dress rehearsals. This time I shaved it down to a goatee for one day just for fun. However, I changed the style of the goatee over the day and I couldn't decide which one I liked better, for future reference should I decide to grow another goatee. So I am asking you, dear readers, to vote on which goatee you fancy:

Goatee A is all-natural, all the hair I have on my chin. Goatee B is carved out a little bit more and a bit more shapely. If you have an opinion on which one you like better, vote on the goatee poll on the sidebar. (If you do vote, don't allow yourself to be swayed by the other variables in the pictures, like the lighting differences, glasses vs. no glasses, etc. Base your vote on the goatee alone.)

When shaving off a beard, it is always fun to do it in stages to see just how many crazy looks you can come up with. At the U of U I once shaved off a new look for every day of the week, including a lightning bolt sideburn, a hollowed out lamb chop (I just the outline around where the big sideburn had been), a big spiral, a ring around my chin, two little horn-like points coming off my chin (that thing was cool - you had to see it), and then later, the half-stache. This time I was a little more conservative, and I only came up with this hot new look:

The right side...

... the left side...

... and from below.

The name "soul patch" is already taken, and it really does look like a big dirt smudge on your jaw, so I suggest the name "dirt patch" for this particular look. Whatdaya think? (P.S. - I had a ten minute long conversation with Todd with this look and he didn't even notice.) [Editor's note: After posting this, my roommate Seth informed me that there already is a look called a "dirt patch." He suggested the name "scratch patch," which I kinda like.]

But now I'm left with just the mustache until Albert Herring is over on Sunday. If you're in Ann Arbor this weekend, I hope you come check it out and see what all the fuss is about.


P.S. - I'm putting up a second poll as well: which is the better spelling - mustache or moustache? Both are considered acceptable.

SST: Yip Yip Yip... Radio!

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

On Friday we must say goodbye to one of the great television experiences of my lifetime: Battlestar Galactica. For those of you who have never watched it during its four-season run, I know what you are thinking, because I thought it too. Sci-fi? Sorry, I don't do sci-fi. But I kept hearing raves from all the critics and word of mouth from a few friends so I decided to jump on the BSG bandwagon and I got sucked in within a few minutes of the miniseries that launched the series. The show may be set in space, but it's hardly your stereotypical science fiction show. It's essentially a story about the Government, the Military, and the Church, and it speaks to all generations that have lived during wartime. It's a gripping, exciting, intellectually riveting, visceral experience, and if you have avoided it just because of the spaceships, you're doing yourself a great disservice (the same advice goes for Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

In honor of the series finale of Battlestar on Friday, I present my very earliest encounter with science fiction:



P.S. - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

SST: There's an Alligator in My Room!

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

Ever since I started Sesame Street Tuesdays a few months ago, I have had many conversations with friends about favorite Sesame Street moments, many of which include passionate pitches for clips they think are worthy of inclusion. These conversations have been great for me because I love talking about Sesame Street and they bring clips to mind that I might have otherwise not thought about.

Today's Sesame Street clip is brought to you by the letter A, the number 7, and the suggestion of Stephanie Harris:



P.S. - I thought about posting the classic Bert and Ernie "Heeeeere fishy fishy fishy" clip in response to my morbid fish post yesterday, but I've already featured Bert and Ernie in two out of eight SST clips so far and I don't want to appear biased.

Saving Fish from Freezing

The pond outside of the school of music is one of my favorite photographic subjects. Here it is on Wednesday, March 4th:

The temperature that day was 37, just below freezing. But two days later we here in Ann Arbor experienced a birthday miracle when the temperature jumped up to 67 degrees. I dug a pair of shorts out of storage and put away my heavy coat for a day. But while it was a great birthday surprise for me, it was a decidedly sad day for the fish. The pond started melting and the poor little guys started appearing all over the pond, sticking halfway out of the ice like the bodies in Pompeii. Here are the sad results (narrowed down from several dozen pictures - what can I say, I'm morbid like that):

And finally, my favorite picture:

How did this happen? Can't fish survive underneath the ice during the winter? Or is the pond so shallow that the whole thing froze over and they have been frozen for months? Did the fish die because of the cold and then freeze or did the fish die from freezing? (In the upper right-hand corner of the second fish picture it looks like the fish tried to break through the ice with its head - maybe that is a clue.)

If you have a theory about the frozen fish mystery, please post a comment. Your efforts could save the next generation of fish from a frozen death.

SST Twofer: Happy Birthday to U/The Twiddlebugs

SESAME STREET TUESDAY

This Friday (March 6th) is full of important birthdays: Michelangelo, Ed McMahon, Alan Greenspan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Greg Ostertag. Oh, and mine too.

Since it is my birthday week I am feeling generous - let's take a peek into Ernie's flower bed to see what the Twiddlebug family is up to:

I'm sure we all learned an important lesson from this: "Pictures are for looking at and glue is for sticking." I hope that advice will come in handy as you go about your Tuesday.

Back to School

Last night I had a dream that after a week away from school on spring break, I couldn't remember my class schedule anymore. The only place where I had it written down was in a file stored in the music building computer lab. So I went over there at 5:00 a.m. in my pajamas so that I could look at my schedule, return to home, sleep a little bit more, and then come back in time for class. However, when I clicked on the file to open up my schedule, all of a sudden hundreds of pop-up ads for the U.S. Army flooded my screen, telling me that I should enlist. The new windows were appearing so rapidly that I couldn't close them all fast enough. The longer the ads stayed up on the screen, the more specific they became. Soon they said, "We want you, Brian Tanner!" Finally an army colonel's head appeared on the screen. "You have 30 seconds to enlist or we are coming to take you away!" he said as a counter appeared in the corner of the screen. As the seconds ticked away, I frantically tried to close the window but it didn't work. I tried to restart the computer but that didn't work either. When the counter got down to one second, I destroyed the computer with an ax. (Good thing there was an ax handy in my dream. I'm in the computer lab right now and I just checked - no loose axes lying around.) As the sparks were flying everywhere, I decided that I should leave the computer lab before (a) I got in trouble for smashing up a computer (b) the U.S. Army came parachuting in to take me away.

I ran out of the music building and on to the grass behind the nearby Duderstadt Center. I still didn't know my class schedule, but since it was still early and I was still in my pajamas, I decided that I would take a little nap on the grass and then try to look up my class schedule again. As I lay down on the grass, the dream went into time-lapse photography mode, and I saw my self sleeping while hundreds of people raced around me in fast-motion and the sun and clouds raced across the sky (actually, it was more like this). When I finally woke up (from the nap within the dream, not the dream itself) it was 5:30 p.m., and I had missed my classes, my private students, and I was an hour late for opera rehearsal.

*****

When I woke up (for real this time) my mind was racing. Am I supposed to be in class right now? Hmmmm... 9:00 a.m. ... no class yet... I think?? I jumped out of bed, pulled my schedule out of my bag (much more convenient than an Army-wired computer). Nothing until 10:30. Whew. Farewell to spring break, welcome back to school.

This semester has been really busy and stressful for me and I had been looking forward to spring break for weeks in advance. Last year I look a little road trip to Chicago, but this year I wanted to just sit around and do nothing, and I succeeded beautifully. I kicked off Spring Break on Monday by never even getting out of my pajamas and never leaving the house. It was a great day. Other spring break highlights included a day trip to see the capitol building in Lansing (for some reason I had always had a great desire to go to Lansing, but we discovered that there sure isn't a whole lot to do there), a visit from my old buddy Tyler O. (who ended up spending the night with me at a homeless shelter as part of a church service project), getting caught up on my TV shows (plus all the back episodes of Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...), and going to a few gatherings with friends (like the Wii party - good times).

I made a list of a lot of things I was going to get done over break (I had four of five ideas for blog posts that I never got around to), but I'm kind of glad I didn't get them done. I was dragging myself around in the final days leading up to the break and now I feel like I have enough momentum to at least carry me through the opening of Albert Herring in two and a half weeks.

I've got a private student now so it's time to plunge back into school. Wish me luck. And if the U.S. Army comes looking for me, I wasn't here.

FHeBay Spotlight

Several weeks ago we had a church activity called FHeBay (a Family Home Evening/eBay portmanteau) in which we auctioned off services we could perform for others. I auctioned off two items that night: an old-school video game party, which was purchased by John McElderry, and a special spotlight on my blog, which was enthusiastically purchased by our ward's full-time missionaries, Elder Mark Gebs and Elder Scott "Mooch" Ringle.

I was quite amused at the enthusiasm with which the Elders outbid all others at the activity. They ended up winning a whole ton of stuff in the auction, including "Soup & Bread Made from Scratch!", "Dinner for the Repented Sinners" (whatever that means - I hope they cashed it in already because the donor has since moved away), some ninja stars (I hope this revelation doesn't get them in trouble with their mission president), and my blog post spotlight.

Some of you reading this may not be familiar with the missionary system in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but "Elder" is the title that is used for a full-time male missionary and "Sister" is the title for a full-time female missionary. For the two years they spend as a full-time missionary they are expected to dedicate all of time to service and teaching gospel messages, and they follow a comprehensive set of guidelines for behavior and activities in which they may participate. They are only allowed to use the internet once a week, and then it is only to send email to and receive email from their families. So I initially found it puzzling that the Elders would be interested in my blog spotlight, since they wouldn't be able to look at it. I thought that they might have simply gotten caught up in the excitement of the auction because when I went to speak with them about the terms my prize, Elder Ringle seemed a little bit confused about his hard-fought prize. "So this is something you're going to put on the internet?" he asked. Uh huh. "Great - then our families can look at it!" Suddenly I understood why they wanted it.

So over the past five weeks I have been contemplating what I could say about the Elders. After all, I see them at church and at certain church-related activities, but it's not like I know them all that well. I kept thinking that I would finally write this post as soon as I really got to know them, and while I have had more interaction with them in the ensuing weeks, I still wouldn't say that I know them super-well. But I think that is the way that it is supposed to be. When you are called as a full-time missionary, you are a representative of Jesus Christ and everything else about you takes a backseat to your responsibility to share the gospel with others. Back when I was known as Elder Tanner on my mission in Brazil I initially found it difficult to find the balance of inhabiting the missionary role without feeling like I had become a personality-less robot. But as time went on I found a way that I could still be Brian but I could be Elder Tanner at the same time; they were really only one person by the name of Elder Brian David Tanner.

What I can say about Elder Gebs and Elder Ringle is that they are great missionaries. Since I have been in Ann Arbor there has been a steady stream of top-notch missionaries and I have seen a steady stream of amazing people who have discovered the church and decided to become a part of it because of their collective efforts. I have seen these latest two work tirelessly, but with a sense of humor, to continue on that tradition. And as you will see in the video below, taken after a church basketball activity, these two are no robots:



So thank you Elder Gebs and Elder Ringle for all your work and for the wonderful new people you have brought into the church and into our lives. Missionaries only stay with us for a little while before they are transferred to some other place that needs them, but know that we will remember you, and more importantly, the work you did here.

P.S. - I think I'll print this out for them. They have been patiently asking me for weeks if I have posted this yet. And special greetings to the friends and family of Elder Gebs and Elder Ringle that may be reading this.